The finest group of pacers ever assembled to compete at Batavia Downs will go to post in the $100,000 USD Robert J. Kane Memorial Pace on Saturday, Aug. 24. The top-flight field of eight have a combined lifetime earnings of just under $7.4 million and include millionaires Covered Bridge, Desperate Man and Hellabalou.

Covered Bridge ($1,464,417) is the defending Kane Memorial Pace champion after winning this race in 1:52 at The Downs last year. He comes into this race -- as he did in 2023 -- after winning the Gold Cup and Saucer at Red Shores in 1:50.4, making him a two-time champion there as well. Covered Bridge is also the winningest horse in this field with 51 career victories.

Former Horse of the Year Desperate Man ($1,630,233) was the 2021 North America Cup winner in his lifetime best 1:49.3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park where he defeated Bulldog Hanover, Perfect Sting and Abuckabett Hanover. Earlier this year, he was a winner in all four legs in the MGM Borgata Pacing Series before finishing third in the final. Since then, he has owned the Invitation at Yonkers where he’s won his last four starts there, including his last two outings coming into the Kane.

Hellabalou ($1,591,803) won the Borgata final at Yonkers Raceway in April and the Camluck Class the following month at The Raceway at Western Fair District. More recently, he turned in a lifetime-best 1:48.3 effort at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Aug. 4. 

Also in the race is Coaches Corner, who is coming off a 19-win season last year. His seasonal earnings of nearly $600,000 was driven by one win and four second-place finishes in the Borgata Series and a second-place finish in that final to Hellabalou. He also won the Joe Gerrity Memorial at Saratoga Raceway in a lifetime best-tying 1:49.3 in July.

Rocknroll Runa A has won a total of 20 races and earned just over $580,000 in his two years of racing in North America since being imported from Australia. Just three weeks ago, he took his lifetime mark of 1:47.3 at The Meadowlands while winning the Sam McKee Memorial Pace. He finished seventh in the Kane at Batavia last year, but did win at The Downs in 1:51.2 last September, which was his only Batavia victory in six tries to date.

Buzzsaw Russ is a Hoosier Park invader that has been throwing some very big miles in Indiana, most recently back-to-back wins in 1:48 and change before finishing second in the Dan Patch at Hoosier in 1:49.2 and second in the #Senditin Invitational that went in 1:48 at Scioto Downs. He did race in the Carl Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park in 2023 and finished third while pacing in 1:49 flat, and that was his only lifetime start over a half-mile track.

Natameri, a runner-up to Covered Bridge in last year's Kane, comes back off very solid back-to-back wins in Open competition at Saratoga Raceway and Tioga Downs and took his seasonal mark of 1:49 at Plainridge Park earlier this summer. He is just shy of having a 50 per cent win rate lifetime as he has won 23 of his 50 career outings.

Typhoon Banner N strung four consecutive wins through June and July at Yonkers and Pocono Downs, where he took his lifetime mark of 1:48.4. His trainer/driver, Joe Bongiorno, is no stranger to Batavia as he won the 2022 edition of the Kane with American Dealer N in 1:50.2, which still stands as the current all-time track pacing record at Batavia Downs. 

The complete field with post positions is listed below.

$100,000 USD Robert J. Kane Memorial Pace
Post - Horse - Listed Driver - Trainer
1. Buzzsaw Russ - John De Long - Melissa Essig
2. Coaches Corner - Jason Bartlett - Per Engblom
3. Desperate Man - Matt Kakaley - Travis Alexander
4. Rocknroll Runa A - Larry Stalbaum 0 Larry Stalbaum
5. Covered Bridge - Jordan Stratton - Jeffrey Gillis
6. Typhoon Banner N - Joe Bongiorno - Joe Bongiorno
7. Hellabalou - Jim Morrill Jr. - Ron Burke
8. Natameri - Jason Bartlett - Jessica Okusko
 

Saturday’s card will also feature the New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) three-year-old colt and gelding trotters and three-year-old filly trotters competing in one race per division for purses totalling $233,300 USD and four $20,000 USD Excelsior trots. With the overnight features, the 15-race card purse value is more than $500,000 USD.

The Kane Memorial will go as race 10 with post time at 9 p.m. The NYSS events are carded as races eight and 11 with post times of 8:20 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. Post time for the first race is 6 p.m.

(With files from Batavia Downs)